My Son and I were sitting on the sand dunes at Torquay on Sunday 17th May (last night) at about 7:30 PM and observed this strong white light coming directly at us, travelling about east to south east above the water, and proly at about 100 feet altitude, when it was about 300 metres from us it pulled up, the light brightened, then went out, and it appeared that some stuff fell into the sea, there was no sound heard, any body else see this? and any suggestions what “it” may have been

Sounds like Decepticons.

AwesomeO said:

Sounds like Decepticons.

Vas Iz Das?

been a few over the years maybe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b62eOsIlgyA

UFO SIGHTING The Point, Torquay Front Beach Vic Australia 4th Jan 2013

Overheard yesterday at the supermarket:
Boy: Mum, what does UFO stand for?
Mum: Spaceship

Ball lightning maybe?

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

White flares?

bob(from black rock) said:

My Son and I were sitting on the sand dunes at Torquay on Sunday 17th May (last night) at about 7:30 PM and observed this strong white light coming directly at us, travelling about east to south east above the water, and proly at about 100 feet altitude, when it was about 300 metres from us it pulled up, the light brightened, then went out, and it appeared that some stuff fell into the sea, there was no sound heard, any body else see this? and any suggestions what “it” may have been

The Min Min Light goes to sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Min_light

Dropbear said:

White flares?

It may have been John Travolta disco dancing in the distance.

Fata Morgana
Pettigrew – who been reading about the Fata Morgana in which landforms that are beyond the horizon appear to float above it in an inverted form – thought this might help explain the Min Min lights.

Such mirages are caused by a temperature inversion, where cold dense air is trapped next to the ground under a layer of warmer air. A certain shape of temperature inversion will mean that light near the ground will be refracted in such a way that it travels in a curved path around the globe.

“It’s like the way light travels in a fibre optic, no matter which way you bend the fibre,” he said. “The light is being carried hundreds of kilometres by this layer of air that traps the light and stops it from being dispersed.”

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193.htm

Dropbear said:

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

White flares?

Yep. I was surprised, but that’s what I saw.

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

it does sound like a flare

they glow a bit brighter at the end and then bits fall down

CrazyNeutrino said:

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

it does sound like a flare

they glow a bit brighter at the end and then bits fall down

Yeah sounds like a distinct pissabolity, glad we saw it.

Dropbear said:

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

White flares?

Yep

bob(from black rock) said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

it does sound like a flare

they glow a bit brighter at the end and then bits fall down

Yeah well the people in distress were probably hoping someone would see it.

Yeah sounds like a distinct pissabolity, glad we saw it.

>Yeah well the people in distress were probably hoping someone would see it.

Well they got a Holiday Forum thread about it, they can’t really complain.

Bubblecar said:

>Yeah well the people in distress were probably hoping someone would see it.

Well they got a Holiday Forum thread about it, they can’t really complain.

Yeah fuck’em although I don’t think they were bitchin about it.

btm said:

Dropbear said:

btm said:

I’ve seen similar things, Bob, but mostly over land; they turned out to be flares.

White flares?

Yep. I was surprised, but that’s what I saw.

Saturday night fever

PermeateFree said:

Fata Morgana
Pettigrew – who been reading about the Fata Morgana in which landforms that are beyond the horizon appear to float above it in an inverted form – thought this might help explain the Min Min lights.

Such mirages are caused by a temperature inversion, where cold dense air is trapped next to the ground under a layer of warmer air. A certain shape of temperature inversion will mean that light near the ground will be refracted in such a way that it travels in a curved path around the globe.

“It’s like the way light travels in a fibre optic, no matter which way you bend the fibre,” he said. “The light is being carried hundreds of kilometres by this layer of air that traps the light and stops it from being dispersed.”

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193.htm

I do love Jack Pettigrew. He has the most amazingly weird way of thinking. Sitting in one of his lectures is such a roller coaster, so much fun and so challenging.

>Such mirages are caused by a temperature inversion, where cold dense air is trapped next to the ground under a layer of warmer air. A certain shape of temperature inversion will mean that light near the ground will be refracted in such a way that it travels in a curved path around the globe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_duct

In telecommunication, an atmospheric duct is a horizontal layer in the lower atmosphere in which the vertical refractive index gradients are such that radio signals (and light rays) are guided or ducted, tend to follow the curvature of the Earth, and experience less attenuation in the ducts than they would if the ducts were not present. The duct acts as an atmospheric dielectric waveguide and limits the spread of the wavefront to only the horizontal dimension.

Atmospheric ducting is a mode of propagation of electromagnetic radiation, usually in the lower layers of Earth’s atmosphere, where the waves are bent by atmospheric refraction. In over-the-horizon radar, ducting causes part of the radiated and target-reflection energy of a radar system to be guided over distances far greater than the normal radar range. It also causes long distance propagation of radio signals in bands that would normally be limited to line of sight….”

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

Fata Morgana
Pettigrew – who been reading about the Fata Morgana in which landforms that are beyond the horizon appear to float above it in an inverted form – thought this might help explain the Min Min lights.

Such mirages are caused by a temperature inversion, where cold dense air is trapped next to the ground under a layer of warmer air. A certain shape of temperature inversion will mean that light near the ground will be refracted in such a way that it travels in a curved path around the globe.

“It’s like the way light travels in a fibre optic, no matter which way you bend the fibre,” he said. “The light is being carried hundreds of kilometres by this layer of air that traps the light and stops it from being dispersed.”

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193.htm

I do love Jack Pettigrew. He has the most amazingly weird way of thinking. Sitting in one of his lectures is such a roller coaster, so much fun and so challenging.

Also a well known phnononom.

Mirages and optical illusions
Mirages and other optical illusions occur in the Arctic because of special atmospheric conditions that bend light. A superior mirage occurs when an image of an object appears above the actual object. Superior mirages sometimes appear in the Arctic because of the weather condition known as a temperature inversion, where cold air lies close to the ground with warmer air above it. Since cold air is denser than warm air, it bends light towards the eyes of someone standing on the ground, changing how a distant object appears. Superior mirages can produce a few different types of images: Distant objects can appear to float high above their actual position, for example a boat can look like it is floating in the sky, or an object below the horizon can become visible. This is known as a looming type of superior mirage. Superior mirages can also distort images so that the object appears stretched and elevated, called towering.

https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/phenomena.html

PermeateFree said:

buffy said:

PermeateFree said:

Fata Morgana
Pettigrew – who been reading about the Fata Morgana in which landforms that are beyond the horizon appear to float above it in an inverted form – thought this might help explain the Min Min lights.

Such mirages are caused by a temperature inversion, where cold dense air is trapped next to the ground under a layer of warmer air. A certain shape of temperature inversion will mean that light near the ground will be refracted in such a way that it travels in a curved path around the globe.

“It’s like the way light travels in a fibre optic, no matter which way you bend the fibre,” he said. “The light is being carried hundreds of kilometres by this layer of air that traps the light and stops it from being dispersed.”

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193.htm

I do love Jack Pettigrew. He has the most amazingly weird way of thinking. Sitting in one of his lectures is such a roller coaster, so much fun and so challenging.

Also a well known phnononom.

Mirages and optical illusions
Mirages and other optical illusions occur in the Arctic because of special atmospheric conditions that bend light. A superior mirage occurs when an image of an object appears above the actual object. Superior mirages sometimes appear in the Arctic because of the weather condition known as a temperature inversion, where cold air lies close to the ground with warmer air above it. Since cold air is denser than warm air, it bends light towards the eyes of someone standing on the ground, changing how a distant object appears. Superior mirages can produce a few different types of images: Distant objects can appear to float high above their actual position, for example a boat can look like it is floating in the sky, or an object below the horizon can become visible. This is known as a looming type of superior mirage. Superior mirages can also distort images so that the object appears stretched and elevated, called towering.

https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/arctic-meteorology/phenomena.html

phnononom = phenomenon

bob(from black rock) said:

My Son and I were sitting on the sand dunes at Torquay on Sunday 17th May (last night) at about 7:30 PM and observed this strong white light coming directly at us, travelling about east to south east above the water, and proly at about 100 feet altitude, when it was about 300 metres from us it pulled up, the light brightened, then went out, and it appeared that some stuff fell into the sea, there was no sound heard, anybody else see this? and any suggestions what “it” may have been

Was the light spherical in appearance?
What was the weather at the time? Any lightning in the distance in any direction?

What you’ve described so far is consistent with ball lightning.

mollwollfumble said:

bob(from black rock) said:

My Son and I were sitting on the sand dunes at Torquay on Sunday 17th May (last night) at about 7:30 PM and observed this strong white light coming directly at us, travelling about east to south east above the water, and proly at about 100 feet altitude, when it was about 300 metres from us it pulled up, the light brightened, then went out, and it appeared that some stuff fell into the sea, there was no sound heard, anybody else see this? and any suggestions what “it” may have been

Was the light spherical in appearance?
What was the weather at the time? Any lightning in the distance in any direction?

What you’ve described so far is consistent with ball lightning.

Yes, the light was spherical in appearance. Weather was not raining, not much wind, and no lightning any where else was noticed.

How is your health molly? hope all goes well with you.

distances are tricky at night. and movement. usually because of a lack of reference points to judge against.

ChrispenEvan said:

distances are tricky at night. and movement. usually because of a lack of reference points to judge against.

So you agree, we should return to the gold standard